Natural selection

In the African bush, things get interesting once the sun sets. After the G&Ts have been downed and the scorching red and pink sky has faded out and been replaced with a handful of twinkling stars – a prelude to the thousands that will soon be strewn across the sky – a game drive becomes a different experience.

This is when the night hunters come out, most notably the big cats. We have seen a number of lions earlier in the day but a daytime encounter with a pride is a surprisingly low-key experience. Lions spend much of the day dozing in some shady spot, throwing you only the occasional sleepy glance.

At night, however, lions are on the prowl. In fact, one is prowling towards us right now. She gets ever closer, moving slowly but with purpose. Acutely aware that we are sitting in an open-sided vehicle we all freeze instinctively, glancing nervously at our guides. They remain relaxed. They have already spotted the lion’s target – the two young lion cubs waiting for their mother’s return in the long grass beside us. 

The reunion between mother and cubs is adorable. The cubs twine themselves around the lion’s legs, rubbing their backs along her stomach as they mew excitedly, as if reporting back on their day. 

Soon they are joined by other members of the pride which seem to melt into view. One moment we are surrounded by nothing but shadows, the next a dozen lions are stalking lithely towards us from different directions. Even though they ignore us completely, the knowledge that these lions have been right around us, without our sensing their presence, sends a shiver up our spines. 

Finding yourself surrounded by lions is the sort of thing that only happens on safari, and the Okavango Delta is one of the best places in the world to go on safari. Every year, this vast patchwork of lagoons, swamps, forests and plains is inundated with an outpouring of water heading downstream from Angola, 11 cubic kilometres of it, that sustains a verdant landscape.

Our visit comes just before the flood arrives. The hillocks we see today will soon be islands floating above the water, and the soaring palm trees will appear considerably shorter with water lapping partway up their trunks.

What will remain unchanged is the extraordinary diversity of game that calls this region home, from hippos to hyenas, cheetahs to rhino.

With so much wildlife on view, every guest soon develops a fondness for a particular species or two. One of my companions is entranced by the elephants that lumber unconcernedly past us, focused on their next feed. Elephants, we soon discover, munch constantly throughout the day. It takes a lot to keep these giants fuelled – each 300kg pachyderm can eat around five percent of their body weight per day. Those hefty appetites also radically reshape the environment. 

When we see stands of trees wrecked by a herd of hungry elephant our guide points out that the ruined trees – canopies destroyed, trunks leaning at an angle - now allow sunlight to fall onto ground that was previously shaded. Fresh shoots of grass are springing up which will attract antelope – impala and tsessebe, kudu and red lechwe – that provide food for the big predators, lion, leopard and cheetah. Those kills feed other animals too: scavengers like hyena, jackals and vultures all get sustenance from what the cats leave behind. 

Among the species that steal our hearts are the fleet-footed jackals, always travelling in pairs, and the wild dogs, one of Africa’s most endangered species. Wild dogs are known for the closeness of their packs and for their endurance – they hunt together, taking turns leading the pack, chasing until the prey is exhausted – but when we come across some young wild dog cubs, they are endearingly inquisitive. One of them paces along the side of our vehicle, trying to make sense of what it is looking at; another tries chewing various parts of the vehicle, wondering if it is good to eat.

I divide my stay between two separate safari camps, both run by andBeyond, a conservation-focused company that funnels the profits from its 29 lodges and camps across Africa, Asia and South America lodges into a range of projects supporting wildlife, land and communities.

Each of andBeyond’s camps has its own vibe. At Nxgabeta, we are immersed in a classic bush camp with tented suites and a laidback main hub. This is not, however, a rustic experience – the sprawling suites include super-king-size beds and expansive bathrooms and the camp also has a massage therapist and a swimming pool.

Sandibe lodge has a very different vibe. The design of its eye-catching central building, which cascades over several levels, is inspired by another rare African animal, the pangolin, and each sophisticated suite has its own plunge pool. 

The food at both camps is outstanding. Where Nxgabeta delivers simple but delicious meals – such as a Moroccan platter with a spicy tomato-braised chicken, tabbouleh, caponata salad and flatbreads – Sandibe’s a la carte dining is more refined. Entrees might include broccoli soup or chicken liver pate, while mains could be slow-roasted pork belly with parsnip mousse and beer-fermented apples or roast pear, walnut and goats cheese tart.

Wherever you stay, you don’t even need to leave camp to enjoy some memorable sightings. As I ate my breakfast one morning at Nxgabeta, a herd of around two dozen elephants, babies in tow, wandered past the main deck. As we sat transfixed, a couple of cheeky monkeys saw an opportunity and staged a lightning strike, absconding with bread rolls stolen right off our plates.

The evening that a rhino lumbers into view as we enjoyed pre-dinner drinks looked like being a highlight of the trip, until the afternoon that I sat in my plunge pool at Sandibe and watched an elephant grazing mere metres away. And then there was the night that, pulling up at the lodge after our evening game drive, we spotted the enormous bulk of a hippo standing beside the track and watching us benignly – a thrilling sighting of an animal that is usually only seen all but submerged in the water.